23 x 19 inches framed
Dawn DeDeaux is best known for large scale works addressing social issues, but she says of this series, "It is a humble study of the small." The works in the exhibition are digital studies of objects discarded from households and nature collected on daily walks in her New Orleans neighborhood. Her new digital studies are documents of objects recycled or resurrected – computer-manipulated images revealing the intrigue of objects past their prime. Subjects include decaying leaves, crumpled newspapers, broken figurines and toys. DeDeaux dimensionalizes the works by cutting the images into sections and reassembling them into floating grids to mirror both the molecular breakdown of matter and the pixilation of the electronic media she employs.
The portfolio includes groupings of work which document stages of transformation and also mandalas created from still frames of DeDeaux's animated films related to this Afterlife series. The finalized work will premiere next year as a multimedia installation at the MAC Art Center in Dallas and will include digital images together with digital animations and media sculptures.
DeDeaux was the first artist in Louisiana to heavily utilize electronic technology; beginning with the creation of her CB Radio Booth media sculpture works and her outdoor environment works which incorporated video/film projections on buildings in 1975. She is considered a pioneering artist in her creation of synchronized multi- screen film surround environments such as the work Face of God which premiered at the Olympics and was shown at the Arthur Roger Gallery in 1996. She is the winner of the international Montage 93 competition for work which best merged art and technology. In her current work Afterlife she has once again applied sophisticated digital technology.
